SOMETHING TO DISCOVER: SAYING IT!
by VeryBusy
Summary: A few hours after the end of VotF. During a conversation with Corran, Mara discovers that she forgot to do something very important.
1. Getting there!

**Title: SOMETHING TO DISCOVER: SAYING IT!**

**Setting:** A few hours after the end of VotF  
**Genre:** L/M Romance  
**Disclaimer:** This is not written in order to make any money with it. I do not own anything belonging into the Star Wars Universe.

**Summary:** During a conversation with Corran, Mara discovers that she forgot to do something very important.

* * *

**Chapter 1: Getting there!**

Corran watched the _Pulsar Skate _lift off and slowly leaving the _Chimaera's _hangar, which had been reserved for both New Republic's officials and some selected private Citizens that had been involved the signing of the peace treaty lately.

He wished he could have accompanied Mirax, who gave Booster a lift back to his ship, so that he could have spend the night with her on the _Errant Venture_, but orders had been otherwise.

Not that he really mind those orders lately, especially not when recalling Wedge's grin when he explained those to rogue squadron.

Wedge was one of the people, together with himself, who had decided to resign from the military service now that the war with the Empire had come to an end, and since this was the last time acting in a NR military function, he had asked the squadron to make an impressive appearance at this very special event. This meant showing up together in squadron formation, attend the signing and the reception afterwards in their best pilot's dress uniform and then departing simultaneously in their X-Wings."

Corran could remember most of the pilots wincing just at he thought of the dress uniform. Finally not everyone was bestowed with Wedge's slim figure, but in the end it had been worth it.  
The now Ex General and leader of the squadron really deserved a little show, even when they finally did not get this much attention than they normally would have, but this was okay counting all those prominent faces gathered here today.

The only thing that bothered him, now that the official reception was almost over, was that he probably had to wait another hour before Wedge would call for departure and that he had to return to Coruscant together with the others instead of spending the night together with his wife.

With Mirax being gone he did not feel like returning to the _Chimaera's_ command room that was serving as a ball room after the signing of the treaty. He was not up to some superficial small talk and he had nobody to dance with anyway.

Corran took a look around; the hangar was filled to capacity with all kind of small and middle sized yachts and shuttles, he could see the _Millennium Falcon _parked about 50 meters away and recognized at least two shuttles usually used by crew members from the _Wild Karrde_.

Getting a bottle Correlian Ale from the storage compartment of his X-Wing, he had decided to recline to sit on the wing of his spacecraft, when suddenly, being halfway up the X-Wing's ladder, he sensed another presence in the otherwise deserted hangar.

"I have to admit; those dress uniforms are really flattering to a male's rear, Horn!"

He resumed climbing and when finally reaching the top he turned around to greet her while standing on the Transparisteel Canopy of the cockpit.

"Hi Mara, I like your compliments, makes an insecure guy like me feel so much better."

This was unexpected, but rather pleasant company; Corran had seen her briefly during the reception, dancing with Skywalker, but then she had vanished from his sight again.

"Hi Corran, I thought I'd be the only one sneaking around here at this time, most people either already left, are drinking themselves senseless or are drawn into important political negotiations by now."

"Well, it is not really interesting up there anymore, at least not when having to stay sober, Mirax and Booster just left – I went to see them off - …and now I am waiting for Wedge to finally call it a 'night' for the squadron."

He climbed over the X-Wing's engine and settled down sideways on the wing using the engine as a backrest.

"… and what brings you here."

"I was cold, I wanted to fetch the shawl that belongs to this dress from the _Falcon_, but forgot to ask for the access code to the ship."

He observed her wile she approached the area where they had parked the X-Wings.

Due to the relatively light weight of the snub-fighters, the landing area he had been assigned to was on a steel grid, on top of one of the ventilation shafts that provided the hangar with fresh air.  
In order not to get stuck with her high heels she had pulled her shoes off and was now balancing on tiptoes from one cross of the grid to the next. Shoes in one hand, she was trying to secure the skirt of her dress against the current of air coming from below with the other.

"… Do you have an Ale for me as well?"

"Sure, in the storage compartment, just help yourself, it's open."

Corran admired her dance like movements. In a gentleman like manner, he had briefly considered offering her his jacket against the cold, but self-protection had kicked in just in time.  
Watching Mara like this, one could easily forget how dangerous this woman could be; not only as an opponent in any combat, but in a verbal encounter as well.  
He was glad he remembered that he was wearing his dress uniform at the very last moment, though. Taking the jacket of had left him in a tight sleeveless turtleneck body stocking and even though he wasn't in a bad shape, exposing himself like this to her sharp tongue wasn't anything he felt up to do.

Mara vanished under the nose of the snub-fighter where the cargo hold was located and came back into view with a bottle in her hand.

He looked down at her.

"You came in the _Falcon_? Weren't you here earlier in order to support Karrde? I was already wondering because I could not detect the _Fire_ anywhere, but I guess they have limited the landing authorization lately, this hangar is overcrowded already and I think the others are filled in a similar way?"

She took a first sip from the bottle.

"No I came today; I have to admit I wasn't involved into the final preparations at all."

Corran had the impression that her cheeks colored slightly.

"Yeah, and so I needed a ride since…" She hesitated. "I don't have the _Fire_ anymore."

His normally fairly quick brain needed some time to really comprehend what she had said here? "You are kidding, right? What happened to your ship? I don't suppose you sold it?"

"I crashed it … don't look at me like I have a third eye on my forehead. I had to …there was no other way…"

He was not sure if he understood her correctly. "What do you mean: You crashed _WITH_ it? Or did you crash it on purpose?"

She looked up and met his gaze again "It was a sacrifice I had to make… nothing to mourn about too much lately."

"You are not trying to fool me here, are you? A sacrifice; do you know how this sounds like?"

. "Well, I guess… there were many things happening lately …" A small smile appeared on her lips. "Peace with the Empire is not the only change, at least not for me…"

This was going to be interesting. Corran summarized the information he had been given in his head. First, Mara traveling to the _Chimaera_ together with the Solos instead of Karrde and then the way she talked about loosing the _Fire_; he could feel her grief but somehow the feeling wasn't as strong as he had expected.

"I am starting to wonder about how many things we are talking here … The last thing I heard about you was that you went missing on a planet near the Unknown Regions and that Karrde sent Luke to look after you, and today Booster said something about that it had been you and Skywalker who where finally able to get hold of an intact Caamas document's copy? Looks, like you have quite a story to tell … do you care to join me up here?"

"There is no story that I can tell here … at least not when it comes to how and where we found the document or to the situation we have been in."

Mara's voice was determined; he knew there was no way to press her though. On the other hand, she was already halfway up the ladder; it looked like she wanted to let him know something anyway, even if it wasn't about the document.

Corran waited for her to finish the climb.

She was balancing to avoid the sharp edges of the X-Wing hull's metal with her bare feet; sitting on the smooth round surface of the engine facing away from him she then pushed herself up with one arm until she reached the top. With shoes and bottle in the other hand, she pulled her knees up to her chin and with a little push she rotated her body for about 180° and slid down the engine in order to sit right next to him.

"Impressive move … So what kind of story is it then?"

She took another sip from the bottle. "Hmm …. I guess, I have difficulties to find a point to begin…" She chuckled at her own inability to find words.

"What's about starting with the _Fire_ and the reason for that sacrifice…?"

She studied the surface of the ship's wing. "That's where the problem is going to start; I just cannot tell you why I did it in regards of the outside circumstances… but maybe… let me say it this way, it started out as an inevitable sacrifice but in the end it looks like I traded the ship against something I'd never thought I would have, something I thought I'd never wanted to have, but …something I needed badly."

"Jade, you are talking in riddles…something you needed badly?"

She took a deep breath then the words came out in a rush. "The galaxy has produced itself another Jedi finally!"

I was good that Corran had waited with taking another sip from his Ale, he had certainly spilled it.

He stared at her in bewilderment.

The memory of an incident that had taken place eight years ago was suddenly vivid in his mind again. Mara's nearly uncontrolled rage when she found out that Kyp had stolen the _Z-95 Headhunter_.  
I hadn't been the loss of the property itself; the craft had been Karrde's anyway, but the temporary loss of her freedom, even if it had been only for a couple of days. The fact that she had been stuck on Yavin 4 and could not back out in case she did not want what was offered to her in regards of Jedi training, had driven her insane at first.  
He recalled a conversation they had at that time, about the responsibilities that were part of the job when becoming a Jedi and the Jedi's place in the society.  
From all what he knew about Mara, she was one of the people who could practice loyalty up to a fault. She had proven this time and time again during the past years, but somehow if people asked her about it she was always able put it of. There were always good reasons, people had earned her respect, others she owed a favor, and then and again there were just things she liked to get involved in, always making sure that there had been a way to back out if she had really wanted to. Not that she had ever backed out, but Mara Jade just did not do things she did not want to do!

And now she had sacrificed the _Fire_, the only thing she really owned, the thing that ensured her independence, he just could not imagine what this had taken from her, but somehow it made sense.

"So the sacrifice was the one of a kind that is unavoidable to become a Jedi? Skywalker must have been with you at that time. Didn't he try to stop you?"

"At that point, the only thing I was longing for was to prevent that from happening, what would have taken place in case I had not done what I did. …becoming a Jedi wasn't planned, I surely have not asked for it, but it was a thing that was inevitable lately.  
What makes you think that Luke tried to stop me? In the end he was the one who always wanted me to become a Jedi, and who wanted me to take the last step that meant a sacrifice proving my commitment to the galaxy or whatever you want to put it."

She glared at him, Corran had the feeling she was challenging him for some reason.

"Come one…. We are talking about Master Skywalker here, as much as he had wanted for you to become a Jedi - and I can assure you, he really wanted this – knowing the way he cared about you, the fact that he could not prevent THIS must have driven him mad. He must have seen this as his personal failure…"

"Huh…. You think so?" A small smile tugged at her lips. "You are right, Luke hated it, and I believe he had done everything in his power to prevent this from happening if it had been his choice. Well, I made sure he had no choice at all in this case, it was nothing else but my very own decision here."

"Not his choice? You must have pulled quite a stunt there. … "

"I believe that in the end accepting the situation was much more difficult for him than it was for me. Of course, it was me who crashed her ship and I can assure you it had hurt, I have cried my eyes out while watching, but in the end it happened because I wanted it. For Luke it was that he had to experience that he could not protect me, and that despise all his power he had no right to take this decision away from me, that there are things that are beyond his control…."

There was a long moment of silence while Corran tried to stifle some maybe too smug remarks. In the end it was inevitable…. He just had to voice the thoughts that were running around in his head.

"Somehow I always thought that you and Skywalker had a very special relationship." He grinned "What is it what people say about Jedi becoming too powerful? … The Galaxy had probably not been able to endure the additional power of Jedi Knight Jade, unless Master Skywalker was willing to surrender some of his own."

Interestingly; the way he had dared pairing her up with the Jedi Master, did not forge any sarcastic response, the smile remained on her lips. If anything, it rather turned into slight amusement; while she chose to stay silent.

"Just for me to know what to expect for myself one day, what makes you so sure that you are a Jedi now? Was it just, that Jedi Master Luke Skywalker stood up and bestowed the title on you in an official ceremony?"

Mara giggled "Well, maybe he will do, when I am going to ask him now. Don't get me wrong, one thing I learned about my abilities during the past weeks is that I surely need some more training. But anyway, it was a surprising change. There were some things; I just could not do before, while I could never find a reason for it. After the incident those abilities were suddenly there."

"So there is still hope for me?"

"Corran, you might want to disguise it but you are a Jedi, at least when it comes to those terms we are discussing right now. Just get used to the fact that telekinesis is not among your talents."

She had picked up on his thoughts immediately. He raised an eyebrow at her in a mocking frown.

"Too bad, I just feared you'd tell me this … but anyway, I believe I understand most of it now …. What I don't understand is the part about **'needing it badly'**, still…"

He was not done with her yet.

She chewed on her bottom lip. "Count on you, for not letting this drop" Mara gazed at him from under her red-gold eye lashes, suddenly appearing shy.

"You know me; I was too long with CorSec, in order to miss something like this. There is more… come on, spill it out!"

"Are you sure, you really want to know it?"

Corran knew he was wearing a cocky grin on his face; he leaned back against the engine.

"Well, as long as it concerns you, Jedi Knight Jade, I guess nothing can really shock me anymore after tonight.

He took another large sip from the Correlian Ale….

"Luke and I are going to get married!"

…..and sputtered his drink as far as to the Laser Cannon at the end of the wing.

**TBC**


	2. Getting emotional

**Chapter 2: Getting emotional**

It took a while, before Corran was able to stop his coughing fit.

"Everything I said before …. I take it back …married … To each other? ... " He snorted, the Ale that had found its way into his nasal cavity tickled badly.

If he had understood her correctly, this news was going to beat the peace treaty, by far. He waited for her to say something more, confirming the miracle, but Mara just sat there, watching him. The only evidence of what she had just announced was the sparkling in her eyes, while at the same time her jaw was set firm, as if she was preparing herself to deck everything he could virtually throw at her.

"You are serious about this, aren't you?" Corran finally managed to speak in full sentences again. He wiped the ale from his chin. "I guess I need another bottle… Want another one, too?"

She nodded only; he stood and turned in order to make his way down to the storage compartment. He really needed time to comprehend this…

Somehow, even if it had been a bolt from the blue – he was still kind of stunned – maybe THIS was what the Galaxy had really been waiting for during the past decade.

The really surprising part was that Luke and Mara themselves had finally come to the conclusion as well that they could save the universe from further headache and pain with this union.

Corran pulled his head out of the storage compartment again and peered up to her over the edge of the wing. He held up two bottles Correllian Ale and she finally moved to take them from him, but still remained silent. It did not look like as she was planning to give any further explanations until he was going to ask for it straightforwardly.

"So I get it, this is nothing to call into question…"

He made his way up the ladder and pushing himself over the engine he dropped down right next to her again.

She raised an eyebrow in mocking surprise. "Why would you want to do this?"

"I said, I won't…but am I allowed to ask how you found out that the thing you needed so badly was Luke? …and even more interesting how did you let HIM find out?"

He could see some of the tension leaving her body; she stretched her legs and wriggled her toes to relax her strained muscles.

"Well, we had a few weeks on a healthy ration bar and clean water diet and this can have a quite a cleansing effect on ones mind …you get to know your basic needs…." She answered in her most casual voice, but even if she did not look at him, the smirk was evident on her face now.

Corran took a sip from his bottle; he was relieved; this was still the 'old' Mara Jade in front of him.

"So you are going to confirm the theory that eating healthily is going to enhance people's receptiveness to subtlety and small romantic gestures…?"

"What are you getting at…? Don't you think that you sound a little bit too smug by implying you were already suspecting….?"  
She gestured towards the Correlian Ale spots at the laser canon, her still smirking face betraying the somewhat accusing tone of her voice.

"Me? Suspecting something? No, you got this wrong completely, I did not suspect anything; I knew it!"

Yes, he was acting arrogant, but there was no other way than provoking her a bit if he wanted to get to know some details.

"You are a very private person for sure, but it was pretty obvious, that you liked Luke much, very much indeed! What took me off guard was that you finally showed it to HIM. So what happened?"

"Oh, come one…. you don't think people will accept a change in eating habits, as a reason?"

She still giggled at her own joke.

"I guess you are not the only one who making assumptions here, but in the end it was really just the realization that, by being as different as we are, Luke and I complete each other perfectly. I was once told that he and I made a good team and now we finally got around to acknowledge this for ourselves."

"Mara, you are stalling…."

He was faced with an eyebrow raised in mocking surprise. "I don't know what you are this nosy about? You said, you'd not question it…"

"Surely, the ration bar theory will do just fine; at least for a simple guy like me … if the love story behind it is romantic enough? The chronicle of Mara Jade and Luke Skywalker…..A story ending with a marriage proposal… and THIS is the tale I want to hear about…."

"A love story…? I hope you won't be disappointed then…"

Her expression turned more sober, it looked like she was seriously contemplating his request .

"It has something to do with the force, I guess. Luke and I were always able to sense emotions and thoughts from each other …and then during a fight where we both had to reach out deeply into the force in order to survive, we established something like a mind bond … we were suddenly able to see into each others mind and heart …after that, Luke proposed and I accepted."

She studied her bare feet.

Corran sighted dramatically. "Connecting with your minds in the force... Huh? So this is how it will be printed in the History files in about 100 years from now. You really took great effort in summarizing this as unromantic as possible. Dependent on how many Jedi are around that time; the documentarians might prefer the ration bar story in order to make it believable. …..  
Is there nothing to warm a poor guy's heart during a cold and lonely night, when duties keep him separated from his wife?"

"If you want more romance, you just might ask Luke … he is the emotional one in our relationship." She pulled her legs up to her chest again and rested her chin on her knees.

"Ah, now we are getting somewhere, you admit romance and emotions were a part of it, finally?"

"Stop teasing Horn, sure there were a lot of emotions, it was just that most of them did not need to be addressed in words. In the end we just knew, so romantic talk or courtship were not really required."

He was probably too nosy, but this truly sounded bizarre. He knew some Jedi could connect to each other to enhance their vision during a fight, but the way it had been described was just that one does not only experience their surroundings through their own senses but through the other ones as well. There were no history files that had ever described this leading to a love declaration.  
On the other hand, he had never experienced this himself so he was not expert here anyway.

"What did you know exactly? …… I mean, what was so special about that mind connection this time? I know, those can become pretty handy at times, but usually it does not lead into a marriage proposal I think…."

He received a flash of annoyance.

"…And what is in your opinion a good reason for a marriage proposal? What were the reasons for you to propose to Mirax that day? Or was it she who proposed? Come one, what is your story that you are willing to give away to any documentarians? …"

There was definitely defensiveness in her voice, but she had a point here, no doubt. To be honest, he could not even recall a single person, besides Mirax herself asking for some reassurance – his father in law did not count anyway - who had ever questioned the reason for his marriage proposal.

It was time to lighten the mood.

He grinned. "You got me, about the reason I proposed that day: I just knew I would always be taken in by Mirax's 'Sleep with me tonight because tomorrow we may die' innuendo…..and then and again, I knew that I would never find someone for whom I felt more than I felt for her."

"…and how did you realize you felt this way?"

She really got him. Corran felt his face getting warm. How did she manage to turn tables on him this easily? He turned sober, Mara deserved an honest answer. Hopefully he was able to summarize the things he felt that day in a believable way.

"Hmmm…. I think it was while I was imprisoned on board of the _Lusankya_. At that time my relationship to Mirax had not gone any farther than kissing and some interesting flirtatious suggestions, but it drove me crazy knowing she thought I was dead. I could not even tell if she really felt that much for me, but I knew if it had been the other way round I had literally died from the pain…."

He took another sip from the ale, thinking back to those times, it had been the high time of war and Mirax' innuendo about '… tomorrow we might die' had had more truth in it than both of them had usually liked to admit.

"Well…. I guess it was a miracle, but she reciprocated my feeling. We moved in together as soon as we were finally reunited, and then it took about four month until I worked up the guts to tell Mirax what I realized back then on the _Lusankya_, but she accepted my proposal."

Corran glanced into Mara's direction again and was rewarded with a genuine smile.

"So you wanted the reason for Luke's proposal? He loves me! I could feel it right away when we connected with our minds, and he keeps saying it over and over again since then….."

Still smiling, she shook her head, like she was still not really able to believe, what she just said.

"About the connection ….there was a part of the bond that I would described the acting situation at that time. I could see through Luke's eyes and had even difficulties telling, which were his thoughts and which were mine, but then … there was that other part, I am still somehow unable to understand how I was able to take in all this information at that time… it was like completely getting to know him from one second to the other."

She shivered, remembering this seemed to stir a lot of feelings. He nodded, encouraging her to continue. Somehow, the admission of the feeling he had for Mirax seemed to have opened a secret door to Mara's emotions.

"… I …. Look, there are so many things about him; it will probably take me the rest of my life to recall everything that I have seen in that very moment. In the end there is one thing I will always remember…. That WE will always remember! We had not even admitted it to ourselves before that point … but there was this totally acceptance and understanding of each other ….that I loved him… and how deeply he cared about me…. that he was willing to sacrifice himself for me, and that I was preparing myself to die in order to make him survive … . And then there was the fact that we were not able to hide it from each other any longer. "

Corran shook his head in amazement. "Now, that IS a love story! Are you sure that it is Luke, who is the emotional one in your relationship?"

She closed her eyes and leaned back against the engine, in some way still engulfed in her own feeling. "…. the most amazing thing for a person like me was to find out how good it felt that he knew…. I cannot recall when I fell in love with him; it seems ages ago. I just buried it deep in my mind; it was something I never wanted anyone to know… but now…"

She stopped and her eyes flew open. Sitting up straight her expression resembled nearly panic.

"…. I've never told him!"

Corran turned in order to face her directly, he wasn't sure what she was currently referring to, but wave of shock coming from her direction indicated it had to be something serious. He almost expected her to jump up and draw her blaster – wherever she had hidden it under her dress - at an army of Stormtroopers that would be rushing through the hangar door the very next second.  
On the other hand, the night had already proven that it was better to be cautious and ask for clarification before jumping to any conclusions.

"Mara, what is it? Whom didn't you tell what?"

"I never told Luke that I am in love with him."

This time he had been prepared and the bottle was nowhere near his mouth. He blinked; he really wasn't sure who had replaced Mara Jade this night; this did not sound like her reasonable self at all.

"Now slow down …. You just told me he knew … And how good it felt that you weren't able to hide it from him any longer!" He reached over and put a hand on her arm soothingly.

Her eyes were wide and if he hadn't known better, he had said her voice trembled a bit. She looked like she was fighting a serious battle with her emotions.

"This is not the same. Yes, he knows, because this is something irremovable imprinted on my soul. I could never deny it anymore, if he'd ask… but what he might not know is that this is the most important reason for me to marry him."

"Excuse me; I might not be able to follow here …. What kind of reasons could there be besides THIS? From all what you told me tonight, it is obviously that you are totally crazy about him."

"I am crazy about him? I never told you something like this…. You surely have a strange way of interpreting the things I say…. "

"Do I? Then tell me, what makes you think he could misinterpret your intentions?"

She seemed to hesitate; it looked like there had been an incident where she wasn't sure about telling what she recalled. In the end the urge to talk took over.

"We had a conversation earlier tonight, where at one point, Luke asked me again about the reasons why I would like to get married to him. He said he would be sure about WHY he loved me and WHY he wanted to marry me, but had some doubts about me gaining as much as he does from this…"

"I suppose you provided some answers. … And from all what you told me before it doesn't seem to be that he changed his mind after that, right?"

Now, he really needed another sip from the Correlian ale.

"Yes, from what he said, I guess I am stuck with him forever…" Her smile was still troubled, but at least she smiled again.  
"It is just, I provided countless reasons but everything was well thought through and made perfectly sense …. I just could not let my emotions take over and …"

"… Tell him how crazy you are about him! I tell you what, if you really think this is going to make any difference, then go and do it now! I am pretty sure that he knows anyway, but I would certainly like to witness Jedi Knight Jade on emotional overdrive…"

With this he did something he'd never dared during the eight years they had known each other. He pulled her in into a hug. She finally laughed again and did not resist, and relaxed in the end.  
Then she giggled, turned away and lifted her head into the direction of the hangar door that just slid open.

"You are really too nosy! But well, let me see what I can do for you in this case…"

TBC


	3. Acting on it!

**Chapter 3: Acting on it!**

There was not much guessing needed in order to know who had just entered the hanger. The ripples Mara sent into the newcomer's direction through the force were enough. 

Corran chuckled: "Looks like you get a chance to rectify the situation pretty soon?"

"You only want so see how I screw up, don't you?" She glanced at him sideways.

"Hmmm … might be very tempting to listen, but no! There is nothing to mess up anyway. …."  
He turned his gaze from her into the direction from where to expect their company. Finally, ducking his head under the nose of a small SoroSuub Space Yacht, Luke crossed the space to the X-Wing.  
He only stopped shortly when reaching the steel grid. With a small tug of the force, he ensured that the strong current of air coming from below would not blow the cloak over his head.

Mara murmured. "Sometimes he is incorrigible …" 

"I've heard that, love …" Luke turned to Corran. "I see you lured my fiancée on top of your ship with illegal methods" He pointed to the Correlian Ale bottles.

Corran released the breath he had not been aware holding. He had wondered about how to behave now, not being sure if Luke knew how much Mara had revealed to him tonight, but there was no question that they were on the same level.  
Or maybe almost on the same level, dependent on how good Mara had been shielding some of her thoughts from Luke finally.

Still the situation felt a little awkward to him, he decided to keep the mood as light as possible. "Nah…. She was just eager to destroy my picture of the galaxy and my general outlook on things … so there was no need to persuade her."

Luke made his way up the ladder. "….and what do you think?"

"I must admit, you rattled my little world…. But honestly, it was about time…congratulations! By the way, is this already public knowledge and I just missed it or when do you plan to let this loose on the rest of the galaxy?"

"We will probably leave the fun to Leia, while hiding somewhere until the first excitement – or however you want to put it - has subsided." Luke winced.

He stepped over the engine in one fluid motion and came down to stand right next to Mara. Looking down, he nudged her shoulder gently.   
"Come one, make some space..."  
She scooted forward and he slid down behind her straddling her hips. Reaching around her waist with one arm, he pulled her back into his chest and wrapped the cloak around both of them.

Corran grinned and shook his head. If somebody had just told him, and if he'd not witnessed this with his own eyes, he'd never believed the scene provided by those two, right now.  
He had some serious doubts that either Luke or Mara would appreciate the first comment that came to his mind – so cute – but there was no other way to describe it.

He watched them with increasing amusement.

"Well….. I'm happy you feel this comfortable in my company, but …"

Both heads abruptly turned into his direction again; Luke's cheeks colored slightly.

Corran felt challenged. "I knew there are reasons why people want to get involved with a Jedi, and those cloaks can really become handy at times. …… I was told that they make men appear pretty handsome, attracting especially the female citizens of the galaxy."

Luke took the bottle that had still been in Mara's hand and took a sip from the Ale before he answered.   
"Corran… huh…. Sorry, I…we…." He stopped, and then he threw his head back and laughed, a full belly laugh, like Corran had never heard from him before. Obviously he had decided to take the bait.

"So you finally figured the real reason why I choose my profession? You are right, it were definitely the clothes."

He paused, still laughing.

"I assume Mara's first motivation to get engaged was that she wanted to make sure that I am always available to keep her warm and comfortable."  
He wrinkled his forehead as if seriously contemplating the second remark. "I don't think that appearance played any role here … she never cared about mentioning something like this anyway…"

Mara rolled her eyes, but at the same time reached back with one hand to caress his cheek affectionately.

"Farmboy, you are really lucky that you caught me in a soft moment! Otherwise I would show you a totally different definition of me being comfortable…. "

Corran took a deep breath and rose quickly before he could reconsider his decision again. It was time to leave those two alone, but not without giving Mara something to do….

"Okay Jade, I think this was the perfect innuendo, see that you get your mission accomplished. You'll have about half an hour before I will need my ship back…" 

He went to pick up the empty bottles and avoiding any eye contact with Luke, he made his way down the ladder as fast as possible.  
It felt like Mara's glare would burn a hole into the fabric of the back of his uniform's jacket, while at the same time he sensed a flash of puzzlement coming from the Jedi Master.

He knew exactly that one look into Luke's face would blow his shields, so he dashed the empty bottles into the storage compartment and focusing his gaze on the hangar door he walked quickly away from the X-Wing.

---------------------------------------------

Mara stood up and facing away from Luke she moved to the Laser Canon, looking down as if she had observed something extremely interesting below the steel grid.

"Can you tell me what this is about?" 

"What you just said about appearance…." She did not look at him. "Would it make any difference to you if I'd say you were handsome?"

"Huh…. Would be nice to know, in the end I think everyone is a little bit susceptible to flattery, but ….hey this is us!" He went to get up as well in order to move over to her. Hugging her from behind, he rested his chin on her shoulder.

"Looks like I interrupted an interesting conversation between you and Corran …." He nuzzled her ear playfully. "He thinks you have to accomplish a mission? I must admit I am curious about what you told him…"

"Hey, stop that." She turned her head and tried to move her ear out of his reach. "You better do not distract me if you want to know about the conversation."  
She moved out of his embrace and back to the engine, still not facing him. "So even if it would not make any difference… you'd like to know, if I thought you had a gorgeous butt?"

His first reaction was to try looking down over his shoulder in order to inspect his own backside.  
"Huh …You think I have?"

"Yes, I do…." She turned around, but quickly stretched out her hand in order to keep him at arms length. "…and you are adorable when you look like this ….. Yes, I think you are pretty handsome, I always thought so….?"

"Well, thank you, but… "

"What? There is no 'but'!" She said "You know, I usually mean what I say..."

"I know you do… but, this was the mission Corran mentioned?" He smiled, but the puzzlement was clearly written on his face. "Did you really talk about my backside anatomy …?"

"No we didn't, somehow Corran wasn't that interested in discussing this topic…." She laughed silently. "I think, as your fiancée I should be allowed to tell you from time to time that I like what I see." 

"No complains from me here! Although…. You know, this is a rather unexpected declaration. I am not sure how you want me to react…"

"Does this embarrass you? … Look, I just though I'd tell…" She looked down and took a further step backwards "…'shavit', I knew I'd screw it."

"Just stop moving away from me…" He still wasn't sure what kind of reaction she wanted to get out of him, but decided to act anyway, he took a quick step forward grabbed her face with both hands and kissed her passionately.

Mara struggled only shortly, then her arms went around his waist and she drew him nearer. When he finally pulled away, he did not release her face but kept her close.

"Oh…" She merely whispered against his mouth. "This was surprising…" 

"Payback is only fair play, sweetheart." He kissed the tip of her nose. "…and now tell me what is going on in that beautiful head of yours? What is the mission you are preparing to accomplish here? What is it that Corran wants you to do?" 

"Payback… huh… I guess you are much better at this flattery game than I am." Her hands came up and she took hold of his wrists and gently moved his hands away from her face. She took a step back again, but continued holding his hands.

"Corran did not want me to do anything; he just wanted to hear a love story." She grinned, remembering the earlier conversation. "He had much fun while giving me a hard time, complaining that I could not come up with anything romantic enough for him to believe."

"And you let him challenge you this way?" He carefully stepped closer again and drew one of her hands up in order to place a kiss on her knuckles. "Well, looks like you made him believe, without having to cause him serious injuries."

"I would say the only one who got beaten tonight was me and I did that myself." She looked into his eyes, suddenly appearing very serious. "You remember, what I said earlier? About me being emotionally closed up still and that I wanted to change that."

"Yes?" He let go of her hand in order to place his arm around her waist. She finally relented, put her arm around his neck and moved closer into his embrace.

"I finally had to realize, that I never thought about telling you something very important."

"Oh … I guess I finally get to know about the mission?" His anticipation was palpable now. "Are you going to tell me now?"

"Yes, I will" Her voice was just a breath into his ear when she pulled his head closer to her. "What I wanted to tell you Luke Skywalker is: I am deeply in love with you! And this for a long time…."

There, she really said it!

Luke felt like his knees were going to buckle the very next moment, he wanted to drop himself back on exactly that part of his anatomy, which she had described as attractive earlier. He could feel the blood pounding in his ears.

She felt him trembling. "Skywalker, are you crying?" Mara wrapped her other arm around his neck and then leaned back to look into his eyes. "I 'm sorry … I shouldn't …."

"No, I…" He swallowed "… Can you say it again?"

"I am sorry, that I did not tell you earlier, I shouldn't have waited this long….!" 

"Don't be; just say it now, please!"

"When you asked me tonight about the reason why I wanted to marry you… Was it this that you wanted to hear? You did not want to hear all this logical conclusions, did you? I mean had it really been that easy?"

"I know it is difficult for you right now, but you could make me really happy if you repeated it….please!" His blue eyes were begging.

She watched him carefully, thinking again about how handsome and irresistible he was, especially when he looked at her like this.  
She knew that she had been right with everything she had said to him earlier: Starting with that she wanted to learn from him how to be more open emotionally, and that they complemented each other perfectly and finally that she had been in his head and in his heart and knew about everything he did; and knowing this meant only one thing right now.  
He needed to hear it again! He had known it already before, of course, but craved for the words spoken out loud! She pulled him close again.

"Luke, I love you!"

"Hmm …again, please…" He brushed his lips against hers gently.

"I love you!"

He rained feather light kisses all over her face. "One more time, please …" 

She suddenly had to laugh; the tension she had felt all the time vanished finally. It was very easy indeed.

"My beloved Jedi, I am totally crazy about you, especially when you look at me like you do right now! I might now be objective here, but I think you are pretty handsome and I am madly in love with you!"

She pulled his head to her again and kissed him with all the love and passion she felt.

Luke decided that it was really better to sit down again before his knees would give out totally.  
He pulled her down with him and into his lap. Wrapping his cloak around both of them tightly, he whispered:

"Before I forget to mention it, I am in love with you too, beautiful!" 

--------------------------------------------------

Corran's comlink beeped. He stood up from the floor just outside the hangar door, where he had spend the last 30 minutes, making sure that nobody would enter, and switched it on.

"What is it?" He knew that it was Wedge anyway.

"Corran where are you? It is time to throw the Dress Uniform away and switch into your flight suit. The party is coming to an end and if we want to takeoff before the crowd, we have to be ready for departure in about 15 minutes."

"No problem, I am in front of the hangar door already, see you in a few minutes."

He switched the device off again, opened the door and made his way back to the X-Wing as quickly as possible.  
Sensing the first turbolift arriving outside the door with the first party guests who were now heading back to their ships he knew that he had to hurry.  
He had to prevent seeing his ship - including the two persons, who were still putting on quite a show on its wing - all over the holo channels the next morning.  
He tried to nudge them a bit through the force, but they were totally oblivious to everything outside that little bubble they had created.

What had he just said to Wedge? No problem? Corran groaned, if they did not sense him soon this was going to be a disaster.

He already heard the hangar door opening.

"Hey Horn, You might need some help with your ship, don't you?"

A little object – probably another comlink - flew through the hangar space and landed precisely on Luke's head.  
The two persons on the craft's wing darted away from each other and stood up quickly.

Corran turned around and grinned. "Solo…thanks! It is always good to see you…" 

**Fin**


End file.
